BC-ME--Maine News Digest, ME

The breaking news staffer for Northern New England is David Sharp in Portland, Maine, who can be reached at 207-772-4157.

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B-52 CRASH ANNIVERSARY

ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN — Flying low over snowy terrain 50 years ago, Lt. Col. Dan Bulli's massive B-52 bomber hit turbulence that shook the plane so violently that he couldn't read the gauges. Pulling back on the yoke and depressing the throttle, he tried to fly out of the severe wind. Then there was a loud bang. Moving at about 325 mph, the unarmed bomber banked, nose down, and crashed into the unforgiving winter wilderness below. Today, the B-52 Stratofortress is a legendary aircraft, one of the longest-serving in U.S. military history. But it would not have become the workhorse it is without one disastrous flight 50 years ago next week, and a similar one six days later in New Mexico, that helped to underscore a deadly structural weakness. By David Sharp

AP Photos

PORTLAND — Mainers own more guns than most Americans but also are more supportive of restrictions on semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, a poll says.

ALSO GETTING ATTENTION

— TEENS-VIOLENT VIDEOS — Police have delivered trespass warnings to 15 Brunswick High School students who filmed violent videos at locations including the former Brunswick Naval Air Station in Maine.

— HINDU TEMPLE — The growing Hindu community in Greater Portland is transforming an old Westbrook church into a Hindu temple, the first of its kind in Maine.

— SHOE CAMERA ARREST — Police in Scarborough, Maine, have arrested a man who's accused of using a camera mounted on his shoe to look up women's dresses at a Wal-Mart last summer.

— RECORD WARMTH — The January thaw in New England has even reached New Hampshire's Mount Washington, which recorded the all-time warmest temperature ever for the month.

— JOB FAIR-VETERANS — A Maine job fair is featuring businesses that are the lookout to hire veterans. Oxford Casino is sponsoring the event, which is being held at the Lewiston career center on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon.

— BIOFUEL PRODUCER — A small Maine company that turns recycled cooking oil from northern New England into diesel fuel stands to benefit from Congress' deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.